waterinegirl wrote:what makes him controversial for mehe overthrow his father; many wives; womanizer; no correct judgement; passive; rudemany thigs to mention what can you sayare you against with me

Those were my responses to him, also. What I wonder, though, is if he was represented this way as a mirror of human behavior, which then provokes a response: either we accept our bad behavior, or we behave differently?

It is interesting to me that you picked out 'passive', especially since Zeus could be brutally aggressive; but then at other times when he should have acted, he could seem to wholly ignore a critical situation.

words are such a poor representation of reality. please listen to what I mean, not what I say.

True there's that, I didn't take that into consideration and I apologise.By the way, the only thing I disagree with is the "many wives". Since "womanizer" pretty much covers his extra-curriculum affairs, I can't say that two, if I remember correctly, wives is not all that much. True, he didn't treat Metis all that well, all things considered, but that's a total different vice.

Well, one is much more likely to find a being such as Zeus, rather than some mythical being full of perfection or some God that though he almost fordid all life with a flood, destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, slew Egyptian newborns, etc. is yet supposed to be considered perfect and infallible.

What was the position of Greek mythology on gods and morality? Were gods subject to moral laws of the cosmos that even they couldn't change, or were they the source of morality as in Judeo-Christianity?

I, Lex Llama, super genius, will one day rule this planet! And then you'll rue the day you messed with me, you damned dirty apes!

Lex wrote:What was the position of Greek mythology on gods and morality? Were gods subject to moral laws of the cosmos that even they couldn't change, or were they the source of morality as in Judeo-Christianity?

I don't think that this one is easy to be answered... Greek religion had no "Holly Book(s)". So when examining the sources of mythology (e.g. tragedy, poetry or even philosophy) someone has to determine what was originally mythological tradition and what the author's point of view on a matter.

Greek religion is often detached from mythology for this reason. The gods are bigger, stronger, brighter than their human counterparts-- but they are not all-mighty, nor perfect, nor to be emulated. If I were to look for a source of morality in Ancient Greece, I'd start at her heroes and their manifestations of arete, starting obviously with the usual suspects of the Homeric epics.